A child seat for a vehicle generally has a child seat belt system for restraining a seated child. The child seat belt system includes a pair of shoulder belts which extend downward from the seat back toward the seat cushion. The shoulder belts typically are connected to a common tongue which is releasably lockable in a buckle at the front of the seat cushion.
In one type of child seat belt system, the shoulder belts have free ends at the seat back, and are adjusted to desired lengths by sliding their free ends through clasp-type buckles on the seat back. Such a child seat belt system is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,622. In a similar type of child seat belt system, the shoulder belts are adjusted in length by detaching and reattaching their free ends to the seat back. An example of that type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,325. A child seat belt system having a combination of the foregoing types of adjustment features is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,600.
In another type of child seat belt system, the ends of the two shoulder belts are connected to a third belt. The third belt extends downward behind the seat back, and further extends forward beneath the seat cushion to a seat belt retractor which is mounted on the seat cushion. The retractor continuously applies a retracting force to the third belt, and thus pulls the third belt downward behind the seat back. The ends of the two shoulder belts are pulled downward behind the seat back with the third belt. As a result, the portions of the shoulder belts that extend from the seat back toward the seat cushion are pulled upward toward the seat cushion. Slack in the shoulder belts is thus taken up continuously by the retractor. An example of this type of child seat belt system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,012.